1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to waste paint generated during a painting operation and more particularly to apparatus and method for recycling waste paint to dry up the waste paint containing an amount of toxic substances in a vacuum dry method and completely remove water from the waste paint.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, paint contains pigment, organic matter, inorganic matter, a drier, an additive, and resin. The paint has various physical properties in accordance with usage and contains an amount of water and thinner, thus having its unique smell. If waste paint generated during a painting operation is discharged as it is, it may cause environmental pollution such as air pollution, soil pollution, marine pollution, and water pollution, so it is defined as a particular toxic substance.
In a conventional treatment method, the waste paint is collected and burned up. However, this incineration of the waste paint costs a great deal and generates an amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC), causing secondary pollution.
To overcome the above problems, there have been developed methods and apparatus for recycling the waste paint. The method and apparatus for recycling the waste paint is disclosed in the application Ser. No. 96-6501 filed in Korea (the title of the invention is "Method and Apparatus for recycling waste paint") in detail. Specifically, in a course of drying up the waste paint, electromagnetic wave generated by a magnetron is used as a primary energy source and hot air generated by a hot blast stove is used as a secondary energy source to remove water from the waste paint.
However, the above method and apparatus for recycling waste paint using the electromagnetic wave does not allow mass production and good drying. Moreover, a terrible smell that is given off by drying of the waste paint and fillers generated from the recycling process not only ruins worker's health but also causes environmental pollution. The fillers cannot be reused because the conventional recycling method of waste paint cannot remove a terrible stink from the fillers.